The subject matter disclosed herein relates to radiographic imaging, including imaging approaches employing a detector that is not fixed in place.
Digital X-ray imaging systems are becoming increasingly widespread for producing digital data which can be reconstructed into useful radiographic images. In current digital X-ray imaging systems, radiation from a source is directed toward a subject, typically a patient in a medical diagnostic application. A portion of the radiation passes through the patient and impacts a detector that is divided into a matrix of discrete elements, e.g., pixels. The detector elements are read out to generate output signals based upon the quantity or intensity of the radiation impacting each pixel region. The signals may then be processed to generate an image that may be displayed for review.
In certain contexts, a mobile X-ray imaging system may employ a portable detector that is not fixed in position or orientation with respect to the X-ray source. In such contexts, a technician may manually position the patient and/or portable detector based on an estimation of the geometry of the X-ray source, anatomy to be imaged, and the detector. However, such manual approaches may be inadequate, leading to images that are not of the desired quality and/or of the prescribed anatomy, which may in turn lead to additional images being acquired.